Today our topic of discussion is – Applying linguistic features.
Applying linguistic features.
Under this category I have included data that express some linguistic features directly. Linguistic features can be both universal and language specific, but as my participants are all Bengali spoken children, the following features are language specific and based on the participants everyday Bengali language use.
The following linguistic features have been coded from the observation data.
(a) Onomatopoeic and Reduplicated words
(b) Original word with imposed meaning
(c) Semantic or form-meaning mapping
(d) Form-Meaning mapping error
(e) Single word multiple meanings
(f) Use of supra segmental features
(a) Onomatopoeic and Reduplicated words: Words that are formed by repeating two similar or identical parts are reduplicated words, like ‘ding dong’ sound of a grandfather clock. On the other hand, words that mimic the noises produced by particular objects are onomatopoeic words, like the ‘buzzing sound’ of bumblebee.
Reduplication and homonymy are phonological acquisition techniques, which occur at a very early age. Research shows that such techniques benefit from deficient distribution of sound-inventory and data. The data indicate that these techniques can also occur in the linguistic development of the child later on (Ingram & Fee, 1982).
The reduplication of syllables is one of the most common first language acquisition processes. Setting down reduplicated words is simply a phonological phenomenon, but they
are used by the children as substitutes of adult expressions of polysyllabic words (like, ‘bye bye’ for goodbye).
One of the most significant features of baby talk in all languages is reduplication. The key feature of reduplication of simple syllables is the creation of meaningful words (Ingram, 1989). It is in reality, an approach to compensate for the inability of children to represent or generate a second syllable of any word.
The proportion of reduplicated utterances decreases when children increasingly and correctly start to pronounce polysyllabic words (Schwartz et al., 1980). Like-
-/papama/= (pajama)
-/tutu/for the Bengali word/duftu/=(naughty) etc.
Sometimes when children face difficulties in producing the final consonant of a mono-syllabic word, they use reduplication; but this happens only to a smaller extent. If children use too much reduplication, it does not mean that they have greater difficulty in reproducing multi-syllabic words a lot
. Rather, it is an indication that the children are at the onset of phonological development and are focusing on learning multisyllabic rather than mono-syllabic words
(Ingram & Fee, 1982).
Participant children have a record of using many reduplicated as well as onomatopoeic words in their daily language starting at the age of 18 months. Some of the instances are as follows-
Child Anna:
-A conversation between Anna and her father-
F:/tumi kibabe aiscrim keyeco?/= (How did you eat ice cream?)
C:/ghofe ghofe k’eyechi./= (I ate it by ‘rubbing”.)
F:/ gole gole?/= (By ‘rubbing’?)
C:/na baba, cufe cufe k’eyec’i./= (No, I sucked it.)
C:/baba, ami cuje kaini, ami kammiye kheyeci. /= (Father, I didn’t suck it but I ate in
bites.)
C:/kamme kamme./= (In several bites.)
She used three reduplicated words to convey a single meaning and she did it only to
express the meaning she particularly wanted to mean. Some onomatopoeic words used by her
are like-
C:/thuf kore pore gelam./= (I felt with the sound ‘thush”.)
C:/dhuf kore keye fellam./= (I ate it with the sound ‘Dhush’.)
C:/dildal/= (A sound used to express her desired meaning.)
-If she heard two people speaking in front of her in low voice, she used to say-
C:/fiffif kore kata bolona./= (Don’t whisper please.)
Child Simmi-
-Simmi’s mother was killing mosquitoes with an electric bat, Simmi saw a cockroach on the
floor and she wanted her mother to kill it. So she said-
C: /ma thaftaf/= (She asked her mother to kill the cockroach by making the sound of the
bat thrashing the insect). Some more words used by her are like-/hushaf/= (In a rush.),
/dhadhaf/= (Sound of beating). /kolkol/= (Sound of a running water) etc.
Sometimes children use reduplicated words to express the depth of the situation or the seriousness of the matter, like-
C:/jore jore cap dao./= (press hard-to open a ketchup bottle.)
C:/pa ta snek onek bæta/= (I have severe leg pain)
C:/baiya amake ebabe ebabe merece./= (Brother beats me like this).
And their use of onomatopoeic words can be characterized as a strategy to make communication more meaningful.
For example, “I can run fast’ is a simple sentence that creates a complete meaning. But using words such as, /hushaf, daf, motaj/ makes the expression more precise and understandable. Some examples of onomatopoeic words of the children are-
C:/moja kaner kace momo korche./= (the mosquito is making buzzing sounds in my
ear.)
C:/an an kore kelam./= (sounds of eating.)
C:/ghapus grupu kore Jobdo korce baiya./= (How his brother is making sounds while
eating.)
C:/motos motof kore har kamor dicce./= (The sound of biting bones.)
C:/pani k’acce je fetar poc poc fabdo hocce./= (Sounds of drinking water.)
C:/tip tip kore brifti hocce./= (Sounds of raining.)
C:/thal thaf kore cor marlo./= (Sounds of slapping.)
C:/dopaj kore pore gelam./= (The sound of falling on the floor.)
C:/krin krin kore telifon bajce./= (Sounds of drinking water.)
C:/baba tinton kore bel bajalo./= (Sounds of bell ringing.)
(g) Original word with imposed meaning: This feature is categorized completely on
the basis of participant observations. I have found the children using some already recognized words in their own way. They imposed meaning of the words according to their own contexts. For example-
• Child Anna-
-Anna wanted to have some milk. So she said-
C:/piz ma dudu dao./= (Please mother give me some milk.)
m:/piz mane ki?/= (What do you mean by “Please’?)
C:/piz mane piz bolle dudu dite hoy./= (Please means to give milk.)
-Anna made imaginary chicken lollipop out of blocks and asked her brother to have it-
C: /baiya piz ajo ciken kao./= (Brother please come and have this chicken.)
B:/ciken ki?/=(Asked her what she means by chicken?)
C:/ciken mane coklet./=(Chicken means chocolate). Like this, she used the word
/bikale/ to mean right now-
C:/bikale dite hobe./= (You have to give it ‘right now”)
C:/bikale jete hobe./= (You have to go right now”)
-She found a marble in the veranda, picked it up and said-
C:/amar ginna korce./= (I am feeling disgusted!)
M: /g’inna ki?/= (What does ‘ghinna’ mean?)
C:/ei je moyla, ghinna mane moyla./= (Dirt. ‘ginna’ means dirt.)
C:/ei je moylagulo ke bolci./= (I am talking about these dirt.)
-Anna gave a burp and said-
C:/amaro gæf hoye gece babar moto./= (I also have gastric problem like my father.)
M: /gæf ki ma?/= (What is gas?)
C:/oi je bomi efe jacchilo./= (I was feeling like vomiting, she used the word “gas’ to
mean “vomiting feeling”). Again-
M: /moyla hate brat d’orbe na./= (Your hand is dirty, don’t touch the rice.)
C:/mayla kot”ay, hat to fes i ache./= (Where is dirt, my hands are fresh.)
M: /frej ki?/= (What is ‘fresh’ ma?)
C:/oi je hat diye d’orle kichu hobe na./= (It means I can touch freely.)
One day Anna and K were catching butterflies and putting them in a poly bag. Mother
told them that they have /jibon/= (life) so, they are suffering. Couple of days later, again K was catching butterflies, Anna said to him-
C:/bhaiya erokom korona oder jibon ache./= (Brother don’t do this. They have lives.)
M:/jibon mane ki?/= (What does ‘life’ mean?)
C:/jibon mane urte para ma, ar bhaiya jodi oder d’ore fele tahole to ura bond’o h oye jabe ma./= (Life means ‘to fly’ mom. If brother catches them, they will not be able to
fly.)
During the interview session, Fuko’s mother said that when he started going to school, every morning he used to say, ‘I am going to office like my father’. When she asked Fuko what does he mean by “office’, he replied, /ofis mane fǝkal fokal bæg niye baire jawa./= (Office means to go out early in the morning with a bag).
Every morning he sees his father going out for office with a bag. So when his turn came to go somewhere in the morning in a regular basis, he thought it was going to office too.
When Fuko started using the cell phone, he used the word ‘delete’ frequently; for him delete means “not being able to find the expected game or application that he is looking for.
I personally feel that one of the ways children imitate words is by applying the word somewhere they find it feasible but without knowing the actual meaning. This category of imposing self made meanings to original words is actually another form of imitation.
But this stage does not last long as every time they misuse a word, parents make immediate corrections; as a result, next time the word is used with actual meaning by the child. So, it can be taken as a temporary phase in meaning development process of children.
(c) Semantic or form-meaning mapping: Semantic mapping or form- meaning mapping is a cognitive mechanism where a new concept is learned on the basis of a single information unit. It is an important phase at first language acquisition in young children.
Research indicates that children as young as two will begin word mapping (Spiegel &
Halberda, 2011). When a child can use language to communicate and satisfy his or her needs, he or she can already map form with meaning. Thus all the above discussed coded categories are results of child’s meaning mapping ability.
But still I have coded it separately because I wanted to introduce the readers to the amazing process of child meaning mapping or ‘Semantic Mapping” which also works as an indicator of normal language development in any child. Few examples to indicate how meanings are conceptualized with forms by children are given below-
-In a rainy day child Anna wanted to go out, her father forbid her and she became angry, she said-
C:/ami acina, brifti to ki oyece?/= (Don’t worry about the rain, I am here.)
C:/tomake chata de ni jabo to./= (I will take you under an umbrella.)
C:/rifjar fud tule ni jabo./= (We will also pull the rickshaw hood ahead).
She was interested to go out anyhow. So she started using words that she already knew or sentences she had heard before to express her desperation. She knew the use of ‘rickshaw hood’ and in this context, meaning mapping was done perfectly. Another conversation between Anna and her father is like-
F:/amar payer patata tipe dao to/= (Massage my foot or “leg leaf if literally translated
in Bengali).
C:/payer abar pata hoy naki?/= (Can foot have ‘leaf”?)
C:/oh! baba, gacher patake bolche payer pata./= (Oh! You are mistaking tree leaf as
foot leaf.)
Like Anna, Ikra also maps form and meaning nicely. Her mother bought a cooling body powder which had menthol in it. After using it for the first time, she said- C:/ma paudar e “al/=(Powder is
spicy; she expressed the cooling sensation of menthol as
spicy). Besides, all the children used language forms like-
C:/oke/= (Alright?)
C:/thik ache?/ (Is it okay?)
C:/kintu!/= (But!)
C:/afcojo./= (Surprising!)
C:/sappaiz/= (Surprise!)
C:/bifon./= (Serious.)
C:/ekdom./= (Completely.)
C:/eto tuku./= (This much). In most of the cases semantically they use the right word on right time, like- if anybody asks Fuko to get up early in the morning, he says- /amar arektu ghum baki ache, ektu./= (I have little more sleep left), he could quantify
the time.
The above examples of form-meaning mapping started in each child in between 2 to 2.5 years of age. But I think semantic mapping has a few prerequisites like- -learning the word
-learning the meaning of it
-error in meaning mapping (imposing different meaning if the original one is forgotten)
-pragmatic misuse (use of word in appropriate context)
-correction of the adults
-properly mapped through learning or imitation.
After crossing these levels, a child starts mapping meaning correctly and in the right contexts. Though the cognitive process of semantic mapping is natural, it needs a stimulus from surrounding as well as learning from adults or pure imitation to succeed.
(d) Form-Meaning mapping error: Generally form-meaning mapping is a process in which children quickly come up with an understanding of the meaning of an unknown word they hear in a well known and highly organized social interaction; and children often map nouns and verbs.
When this idea formation process does not meet the right track, an error occurs. In the previous category of semantic mapping, I have pointed out a few steps that lead to successful word-meaning conceptualization. If those steps are not developed in a child, he is expected to make an error in mapping.
But as I have mentioned earlier, this process is temporary or lasts for a very short time, as missed or improper use of language use by a child is corrected by the adults in the family. For example if a child uses ‘ball’ as overextension of the word “watermelon, he will surely be corrected by his parents or other caretakers. As a result, next time he will not make the same mistake (almost in all cases).
The process of making over extension and under extension is part of semantic error. Like- at first children do not always get the idea that some of the kinship terms have fixed application; for example terms like-/baba/(father) and /bhaiya/(brother) or /apu/(elder sister) are the terms that the child has to use. But they make errors and say-
C:/ma tomar bhaiyake bolo to k’elna ta dite./= (Mother, tell your brother to give me
my toy back.)
C:/tomar baba ke bolo ami dakchi./= (Tell your father that I am calling him). They think such kinship terms are common to all family members. Again, children make mistakes
in using the right quantifier also. They say- C:/ækta pani dao./= (Give me one water.)
C:/nak gulate bæta pelam./= (I hurt my noses) etc.
Another common error is like calling all the same aged playmates as ‘boys’ or ‘girls’, like Anna used to say-
C:/ajke amra job galra mile k’eleci./= (Today all the girls played together). But there were also boys present. Moreover, mentioning all the diapers as ‘pampers’; teaspoon, fork or tablespoons as “tea spoon’ was observed in Sunny and Ikra’s language use.
Another common semantic mapping mistake is found when children try to use verb forms. Like, the child says-/tacco/(going?), /tabo/(going’ in the present perfect form(1” person), /teccilam/(going’ in past perfect form).
But in Bengali there is no such form as /jeccilam/. After listening to the elders’ she learnt /giyechilam/. Such verb mapping error is seen in all the children at a certain time period in their language development stage.
Even at 5 years of age, participating children are seen to make errors in meaning mapping; although the rate is lower than before. They try to copy what their teachers tell them or they use words heard in the classroom from the teachers or other students and error occurs frequently. I have observed Anna (age 5 years) interpreting words wrongly after
hearing them from TV; she used sentences like- ‘I have done it’ when she is ready to go to bed. I asked her what does that mean; she said that she has finished brushing, cleaning and putting on night dress. Actually, she is correct from her point of view in semantic mapping. So, it can be said that meaning mapping depends on the individual’s perception also; what is incoct
for the listener, might sound alright to the speaker. I think making a semantic mapping error is a very important part of child’s first language acquisition. Children learn through mistakes, and as language development is a gradual process, making errors, mistakes are part of the process too.
(e) Single word multiple meanings: Examples of single word with multiple meanings are mostly found in the holophrase or single word stage. Children use some words to express multiple meanings. Like-
-/allah/ as (a)*Allah’ the almighty and (b) A beggar who begs in front of Anna’s house
taking the name of ‘Allah’ the almighty.
-/baj/ (brush) as (a) tooth brush, (b) someone is brushing her/his teeth and (c) the child is asking someone to brush teeth.
-/tata/ as (a) good bye, when someone is leaving (/baiya tata/), (b) to mean someone is going out (/baba tata/)and (c) the child wants to go out (/beibi tata/).
-/ha/ as (a) Open your mouth (/mam ha/), (b) to mean the child is hungry (/beibi ha/). -/mom juta/as (a) these are mother’s shoes, (b) where are my shoes? (c) Here are my shoes and (d) I cannot find my shoes etc.
Single word multiple meanings stage also lasts for a short period. As soon as the
children’s vocabulary expands and they use different words more, depending on single word
to mean several meanings decreases and gradually ends up.
(f) Use of supra segmental features: Supra segmental features include stress, intonation, juncture etc. In meaning acquisition, these features reflect the pragmatic perfection of any language (Schwartz et al. 2015). Use of any of these features ornament the language and helps in transporting meaning minutely.
I have seen the participants using stress and intonation mainly as they are too young to acquire the rest of the features. Their use of stress on words is to put emphasis on what they are saying. They put stress on syllables or the whole word to establish it and make others get their point.
Sometimes, they express anger or insistence by putting stress on some of the words. Like-
C:/amake tumi niye jao ni keno?/=(Why did you not take me?)
C: /tu’mi’ bo’lo’ ke’no kore’cho?/=(Tell me why did you do that?)
Intonation helps them to turn assertive sentences into interrogatives. Like-
C:/amio jabo ma?/= (Will I also go mother?)
C:/orao afbe bikale?/= (Will they also come in the afternoon?).
Like these sentences, many more questions are asked by the children through intonations. Other than the above mentioned features, some of the children had been using some adverbials (both Bengali and English) to indicate degrees of intensity-
C:/koto je jal hoyeche./= (The curry is too spicy!)
C:/ki je moja lagche khete./= (How tasty it is!)
C:/supar beyaḍob./= (Super misbehaving.)
C:/supar pet bæta./= (Super stomach ache.)
C:/supar moja./= (Super tasty). ‘Super’ is the expression used by child Anna to express the intensity of an issue.
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